It has been awhile! Even though retired, with a bit of time on my hands, I haven't felt the urge to write any thoughts down. It has been a beautiful Fall here in Flagstaff and we got our first dusting of snow last weekend. The picture to the right gives you just a little indication of the colors here during this season. Although, I do have to say that most of these leaves are gone now what with high winds and some snow (very little).
We have not had a lot precipitation yet so the drought continues in the southwest. However, with the leaves disappearing from the trees and the nights being below freezing we have the beginning of the "winter look" in these parts, my favorites season. I just hope we have a good snow year for cross-country skiing.
The Thanksgiving holiday is on us this coming week. But, it is somewhat diminished these days with the early appearance of Christmas decorations and music in the stores. In many cases this started before Halloween. We old codgers remember the days when it began the day after Thanksgiving. The mighty dollar and merchandizing prevails. We lose some value in putting priority to giving thanks.
Personally, I will be headed down to what we here in Arizona call "the valley;" that is generally the environs of the Phoenix area. Most specifically I will be spending a couple of days with my friends Bob and Cindy Henry in Goodyear, AZ at the foot of the Estrella Mountains. Now, for me, that is something to be thankful for. If you cannot spend holidays with close family certainly good friends are the ticket. Not only that but I get the bonus of heading from the valley to Prescott on Saturday to spend a couple of days with my other very close friends, Marc and Carol Hammond.
It is a time to be thankful, as is anytime you wake up above ground at this age. I am most thankful for my daughters, their husbands (which are the best, especially considering my families penchant for poor choices in regards to spouses in general), my grandsons, sisters and brothers, my Aunt Roby, last of my parents generation, and the few good friends that have kept me around in their universes. My nieces and their children are also persons important in my life. Outside of these folks, I am thankful for the reelection of the President, who I do not always agree with, but in general has done the best we could expect after the debacle of Bush. I am thankful for my general good health and Medicare which assists in keeping me that way a long with daily exercise. So, Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Movies: I have seen several since the last entry in this cyber-space blog. Most were rather ho-hum, some entertaining but not extraordinary with a few that were excellent! First the latter category will give me a positive start here. By "leaps and bounds" the two best films I have seen have been historical with excellent acting and compelling drama. They are Ben Aflick's Argo and Speilberg's Lincoln. Argo deals with the almost forgotten rescue by a CIA agent (played by Aflick) of five individuals from the American embassy who got away during the Iran hostage crisis and hid out at the Canadian ambassadors house. It is excellent drama. Lincoln is led by the tremendous (as usual) performance of Daniel Day-Lewis in the title role. The film covers the period before Lincoln's assassination when he was pushing for the 13th amendment that really frees the slaves. It is the depiction of the political infighting that took place over that issue. It does not seem to different from the contemporary congressional situation. There are many performances within the movie that are notable as well to include Sally Field as Mary Todd Lincoln and the many other character actors most film buffs will recognize. Plus, the staging of both films both cinematically and staying true to their periods is absolutely right on!
I thought Flight with Denzel Washington was a bit boring and overly long. He does give a good acting performance and will be nominated for awards. Even though many critics liked it, I did not. I have no interest in watching an alcoholic pilot go through his denial for two hours. I had no empathy for his character. Chasing Mavericks was interesting surfing movie because of my beach upbringing, but was not an especially great film. Alex Cross was just disappointing. They went with action over the more ceribreal character that is in the books and was interpreted so much better by Morgan Freeman. Tyler Perry is just so-so in the role.
Lastly, there is James Bond. Daniel Craig is the second best Bond ever. No one can replace Sean Connery but Craig does an excellent job for these times. Skyfall is a very good film of its genre. My favorite Bond films have been From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Dr. No, Casino Royale (the Craig version) and now Skyfall. I liked none of the Roger Moore movies but did like Pierce Brosnan as Bond.
If your are a fan of James Bond you must see the 50th Anniversary film.
I am looking forward to the further holiday faire which usually gives us our best films.
Have a great holiday season. Cheers to all!
